By Tonic Mr Lee
news@alexreporter.co.za
The Little Miss Uthando Pageant was an event you couldn’t miss if you had been there. The event, which took place last week in Soweto, saw senior queen Tshegofatso Lehotso (13) and Queen Neo Mphuthi (8) walk away with much-contested titles of senior and junior queen, respectively.
Nomahlubi Mashiya, who is a parent and has participated in beauty pageants before, is the founder and CEO at Ivy M Beauty Spa & Training Academy and Little Miss uThando. In addition, she is a beauty therapist who has worked in the real estate industry for 15 years.
She is part of the parents’ school board at Spark School Soweto and a former judge at 2022 Mrs eSoweto. She is also a chorister at a local church, Good Shepherd Anglican.
“It is an honour for me to host this prestigious pageant presented by my company Ivy M Beauty Spa and Training Academy and it is also our biggest sponsor of this event.
“To my family and friends who have been my cornerstone and a shoulder to cry on, without you all I couldn’t have done it.”
According to Nomahlubi, also known as Hlubi, the event’s objective was to elevate the children in the community. “The pageant serves as a benchmark for us to achieve our objectives. The goal is to see us being able to change the lives of all participants, one child at a time.
“But without the participation of parents, this will be a fruitless exercise. The idea is to take our children off the street and provide them with something to do during holidays or on weekends.
“We are building leaders, queens, future presidents, business women, entrepreneurs, athletes, and so forth. As a company, we believe that using pageants as a benchmark will help us achieve our goals of changing the status quo for our children in this country. We do not need to wait for government assistance, but rather take initiatives as community leaders and business leaders, ” said Hlubi.
Hlubi said the beauty industry has a vast array of opportunities to explore in so many ways. She mentioned that there were so many different types of career path to choose from.
According to her, scholars have a choice to study to become Beauty therapist, Massage therapist, Sports massage therapist, Dermatologists doctors (they analyse skin), to Chemical engineers who design skin and facial products and so forth.
She said that since February was the month of love, they were celebrating the Little Miss Uthando pageant which talks about love. “The purpose of this pageant also is to teach our children the importance of love in general and that Love is truly seeing, and caring about another human being’s existence and welfare.
” We aim to be there for someone, to support them and help them grow so that they can reach their potential state of ability, and that’s exactly what we are trying to achieve by staging these pageants. We want to be there for someone, to support them and help them grow, to make a difference in someone’s life, to share in and care about someone else’s happiness and struggles other than mine.
“Our motto is intimacy, passion and commitment. I am intimate about what I do by creating a feeling of being close, and emotionally connected and supportive to these children,” she said.
“I would also like to thank all our sponsors who showed us love and gratitude when I presented my idea to them and did not hesitate to become part of this historic event. Thank you to our MC (Hlehle Ngubane), DJ (Mathemnandi), Motivational speaker (Nomkhosi Ndlovukazi Msomi), and judges (Aliyah Dludla, Queen Bonolo Mosikare (Little Miss Ivym Beauty Spa 2024) for their contributions . We truly appreciate you all.
“To the parents of the participants, my community at large, and everyone who has been a helping hand in making sure that this event succeeded. Our guards outside deserve our gratitude for making sure we and our cars were safe. Your trust and belief in me made me stronger during this time of preparations. Being a part of this community of Moletsane is something I am very grateful for. Thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart.”
Hlubi also spoke fondly about the legendary South African musician, producer, and songwriter, Pappa Makhene. “Pappa Makhene found his biggest success in the early 80’s as one of the duo Blondie and Pappa, with his brother Blondie Makhene.
“Pappa’s childhood friend, Pastor Sello, joined us to embrace and bless the venue. We are grateful to the Board of Directors of Entokozweni, particularly sis Nkele Maipato Madlala for providing us with this venue. Not only today, but we have also had the privilege of using it for rehearsals. Ms Sheila Petlele who we both entered Miss Soweto in 1985 was amongst the dignitaries at the event
“To business women and men who are pioneering this township and keeping Soweto vibrant and exciting as we see it today, the Chairman of the Soweto Tourism and Business Development Association, National coordinator of the SA Township and Village Tourism Association Mr Thato Mothopeng, Marketing and PR at Miss Soweto pageant, Miss Soweto Foundation, CEO at BB live event and Mr Bian Sithole.
“I am passionate about what I do and the effort I put is to create respectable future Queens. I love what I do and it comes to me so effortlessly and gives me a purpose in life. I am dedicating my time and resources to provide high quality results is all part of my personal commitment to this job its either I do it with all my heart or I don’t. ”
Contact her here: 0834709339
FB: lvy M Beauty Spa and Training Academy
(Hlubi Mashiya personal)
Instagram Hlubi Mashiya
TikTok: lvymbeautyspaandtraining
Physical address based in Moletsane , Soweto.
